Motorist stops by race roughly same

ALTON - A racial breakdown of motorists who Alton police pulled over in discretionary traffic stops last year is similar to previous years' numbers, but rose slightly for blacks from 2007.

Still, the total of traffic stops of 1,086 blacks, or 29 percent of those drivers, was less percentage-wise than in 2006 and 2004. In those years, one-third of the discretionary stops were of blacks, according to statistics from the Alton Police Department.